“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth” It seems crazy that we are half way through the Living Arrows link ups for 2021! It feels like 5 minutes ago that we were homeschooling back in those hard winter months. Now we’re powering through Summer with thankfully a little more freedom for days out of the house but still pretty restricted in lots of other ways. Thankfully after a tiring week, we managed to get out and about visiting the wonderful Howardian Hills.
The demands and emotions of year 10 assessments on Fin ( and us!) alongside a busy long week of school, work and clubs made us want to free some time up to explore and have some downtime. Fin and Daisy had an inset day on Friday which was perfectly timed after all their assessments. Fin went to enjoy some time with his friends and Dougie and I surprised Daisy with a rare day out with the both of us, without her siblings.
As she is born on Christmas Eve we feel that she slightly misses out on a full day of birthday celebrations. We had always planned to give Daisy a celebration day half way through the year but have never fulfilled it until now at 12 1/2 years.
We planned to take Rusty for a lovely walk in Hovingham, in the Howardian hills. We started out visiting the village bakery, the Rolling Pin. It’s a really popular spot and one where we have taken many a Living Arrows photo of them paddling in the neighbouring stream.
Daisy chose her favourite, a bacon sandwich, to eat on a bench by their lovely village playground before embarking on a 5 mile loop around Hovingham and the nearby villages. It was so quiet as it was a Friday and probably because it had forecast rain. We were lucky that we remained dry apart from having very wet legs and feet from walking in the long grass.
This photo was taken just outside Hovingham where some years the fields can be filled with poppies depending on the crops being rotated. This year there are less poppies than last year but luckily there were still some very pretty ones that have seeded themselves.
On Sunday after a Saturday of swimming lessons and gardening, we visited the Howardian Hills once more. This time to one of our regular favourites, Castle Howard.
We had our sandwiches down by the lake which looks even more picturesque now with the long grass they’re growing for wildlife, we even spotted a few dragonflies. They all enjoyed feeding the ducks before we headed down to the playground. The kids were keen to see the pigs that have been introduced into the woods there. We walked all over the wood to spot them, to find that they were in an obvious spot near the playground!
We of course as always took them to the park and Skelf Island which wasn’t too busy this time around. I snapped a quick snap of Teddy waiting for Fin to return from the cafe as he wanted to go with him into the park. He really enjoys spending time with him as it’s getting less now at 15.
I think it’s safe to say that visiting the Howardian Hills twice this week made for a much brighter week, for myself at least! I highly recommend a drive and explore if you’re ever near York. We have done two out of three of the Hovingham loops and can recommend both the blue and the purple route.
It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. And how lovely to have a day out with Daisy – I find it hard to get one on one time with my boys and there’s only two of them so it must be even harder with four!
It’s a challenge 🤪
I love the joy of an inset day! Always such a treat and when they happen like this – at just the right time – they are just so appreciated! x
It was a special day x
It is so nice to be able to spend time with one child at a time it is not something we get to do much here either (and we only have two). Hope Fins okay after the school tests we have been having something this week too. Happy Summer birthday to Daisy.
Lovely photos 🙂 xx